Inside the automatic doors, just beyond the hand sanitizer station, purchase-limit notices peppered the aisles of Lincoln's Whole Foods store.
Officials there capped product sales, ranging from diapers, bleach and toilet paper to frozen pizza and almond milk.Â
Meanwhile, employees at south Lincoln's Costco location worked hard to try to maintain social distancing among customers — 6 feet of space, please — with mixed results, while personally handing out packs of toilet paper and paper towels.
This is the new shopping norm — at least for now.
Harry Lane hung his grocery bags from his bike handles as he rode home from Russ's Market at 17th and Washington streets shortly after 1:30 p.m.
The Lincoln man found most of the basic necessities — some food items and liquid hand soap — but drew a blank on toilet paper.
People are also reading…
"It'll be all right, I guess," Lane said. "I just basically take it one day at a time, and that's what people need to do."
Across the city, markers of everyday life remained Wednesday, with a sprinkling of indicators that the city is grappling with a historic pandemic.Â
Bike trails and walking paths saw their typical traffic on a 50-degree March day.
But two women chatting at Holmes Lake Park opted for a little extra space by carrying on their conversation from the opposite sides of two picnic tables.Â
Two downtown panhandlers perched themselves in their usual spots outside coffee shops on opposite corners of Eighth and P streets.Â
Haymarket workers and business patrons know them, and the two noted how foot traffic had fizzled in the last couple of days.
“Monday was a little better,†said a man who sat outside The Mill on Wednesday and didn’t want to be identified.
Outside the nearby Scooters, Orville "Dean" Myers said that even though he has a cough, he's not too worried about being exposed to the coronavirus. He continued seeking spare change to help him with his gas and electric bills.
“People down here are more cautious,†said Myers, who has a pair of gloves with him just in case.Â
The U.S. Marine Corps veteran who served as a lance corporal has come to this corner for the last 2½ years as he struggled to find jobs. Often, he takes the bus downtown, and he noticed the bus on his ride Wednesday seemed emptier than usual.Â
Tuesday, he only received a dime in his time on the corner, and by noon Wednesday, he only had the coffee cup in his hands.Â
He knows the virus has made people more anxious about their finances, so he understands how some may not have money to give.Â
And Myers, who has lived on the street and now has transitional housing from the VA, said he's not overly concerned about what may happen.
"I know the man upstairs is looking out for me," Myers said.
Across downtown, near the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, along the P Street corridor, and in the Haymarket, normally hard-to-find parking spaces were in abundance, and traffic — looking more like a Sunday morning than Wednesday afternoon — was nearly nonexistent.Â
Maybe 10 customers had swung into the Starbucks inside the Nebraska Union by 10:45 a.m. Employees at the grab-and-go coffee shop nearly outnumbered the handful of students sitting at a red table inside a usually vibrant student center.
Around noon, a MacPractice worker easily made the cut for lunch at Brewsky’s, which was allowing service to patrons so long as there were fewer than 10.Â
Next door, The Oven and Lazlo’s had open doors for pick-up orders.
Cars and trucks filled most of the Kawasaki Motors parking lots Wednesday, while an unusual number of spaces remained available outside City Hall and the Hall of Justice.Â
Even with the abbreviated hours and closed stores at Gateway Mall, pairs of mall walkers continued lapping the halls.Â
Most food court seating remained cordoned off in the mall, so a handful of diners huddled around two stand-up tables.Â
Clothing stores such as H&M had closed their doors. Kay Jewelers remained open, while Helzberg Diamonds across the way had closed.Â
Arcade lights glimmered inside Round 1, but the overhead gate had closed off all the fun.Â
Bath and Body Works shelves remained stocked and flush with hand soaps, but the store had closed.Â
The company donated products to aid other mall retailers in the fight to maintain cleanliness among workers, said Bri Trask, who works at the GameStop in the mall.Â
Two highly anticipated video games hit the shelves this week, but pandemic precautions targeted at keeping crowds to less than 10 prompted GameStop to call off an early-release event for "Doom Eternal" that was scheduled for Thursday night, she said.Â
"We're going to try and keep it staggered," Trask said.Â
Business signs scattered around Lincoln seemed to signal the times.Â
At 33rd Street and Pioneers Boulevard, The Bike Rack's letter board reminded its clientele that "Bike riding isn't canceled."
Off Cornhusker Highway, The Royal Grove's sign noted the postponement of events there, that Taco Azteca remained open and offered sentimental instruction.
"Hug Your Loved Ones."Â
Reach the writer at 402-473-2657 or rjohnson@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @LJSRileyJohnson.
Photographer Justin Wan contributed reporting.